


The Philosophy of Marshmallows

by Butterynutjob



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Camping, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Dick Jokes, Drinking, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, M/M, Marshmallows, Rain, Self-fellatio, Sexual Humor, Showers, Tents, Tight Spaces, Well almost, very little plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:24:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3936637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterynutjob/pseuds/Butterynutjob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles has never been camping, but it doesn't sound like something he will like. He agrees to go with his sister and her boyfriend because that hottie Erik will be there; what a shame that Erik is straight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lprock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lprock/gifts).



> Fun, fluffy, conversations and misunderstandings and CAMPING! Not much plot. Some feels. There will be sexytimes and possibly the rating will go up. Inspired by a post or a comment from lprock on tumblr, which I unfortunately cannot find nor entirely remember.

Charles ultimately blamed Raven. She rolled her eyes, but he pointed out that everything bad that ever happened to him could be traced back to something she had done. 

She couldn't really deny that. 

**  
They were at a Westchester University spring break house party when Raven was a sophomore in college. Charles was a graduate student and actually taught a class at teh University himself - fortunately, none of his students appeared to be in attendance at this particular party.

“Look at the two hotties that just walked in,” Raven muttered into her drink, just loud enough for her brother to hear. 

Charles casually glanced at the front door to see two tall men walk in: one black-haired with a vertical scar on one side of his face and the other was probably a model, because he was certainly the most beautiful man Charles had ever seen. 

Staring at the second man, Charles misjudged how close his mouth was to the level of liquid in his drink and ended up inhaling part of his cosmopolitan. He choked while Raven patted him on the back, amused. 

They both watched as the men greeted the host from about twenty feet away. “They’re brought good beer,” Raven observed. In fact, they were carrying a case of Firestone’s 805. 

Charles made a face. “As if any beer is good,” he said disdainfully. 

“You might want to try _not_ being a complete snob from time to time,” Raven said breezily. “That is, if you ever want to get a date.”

“I don’t have any trouble getting dates, thank you,” Charles replied automatically as he continued watching the auburn-haired man as he put the beer in the fridge. He was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but the way the muscles moved under the skin of his arms--

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Charles heard behind him as someone bumped into Raven. Raven then bumped into Charles, making him spill some of his drink and hiss in displeasure. He scowled and turned to Raven to find that the tall black-haired man had apparently spilled a drink on her. 

“Oh, it’s fine,” Raven said, with a big besotted smile, when it clearly wasn’t, since the front of her shirt was drenched in beer to the point that it was see-through. 

“Excuse me,” Charles said sharply to the man, despite the fact that he was not quite a foot taller than Charles. “Is this you usually pick-up women?”

Raven’s jaw dropped and a flush crossed her features as she stared at Charles in mortification. He just glared at Scarface. He knew how guys thought; this guy was no doubt pursuing his sister and if he thought--

“Azzy,” An amused voice said behind Charles. “I told you it was a bad idea.”

Charles whirled to see the auburn-haired hottie standing behind him, a smirk on his lips and his hands on his hips. His eyes snapped to Charles’ face when Charles turned around and he extended a hand. “I’m Erik,” he said. 

Charles accepted his hand and shook it, feeling a little dazed in the presence of someone who could surely rival Michaelangelo’s David for male beauty. “Charles,” he said, and then cleared his throat, because it felt like something had gotten stuck in there.

Erik’s eyes lingered on Charles’ face for a moment, then shifted to Azzy with a small smile. “See? It’s not hard.”

Charles felt like he was missing something. 

“Really, I’m fine,” Raven said, holding her wet shirt away from her skin so it wasn’t quite so see through. 

“I’m wearing a shirt under my jumper,” Charles said with a sigh. “I can give you that. Let’s find a place to change.” He steered Raven down the hall and into a vacant bedroom. They went inside and shut the door.

Raven was giddy as they both took off their shirts. “Okay, yes, spilling a drink on me was juvenile, but it’s still kind of flattering,” she said with a giggle. 

“It would have been more flattering if he had approached you himself, instead of sending his friend,” Charles muttered, feeling annoyed. His jumper was wool, so now he would be itching all night. 

Raven frowned as Charles tossed his white T-shirt to her. “What? His friend? What are you talking about?”

Charles frowned too as he put his jumper back on over bare flesh. “Wait. Which guy do you like?”

“Azzy,” she said, as if it were obvious. “The guy who just spilled beer on me, hello.”

“Oh.” Charles suddenly felt a little better about life. “I just thought - I mean, Erik is the one who looks like a model. I thought you liked him.”

Raven looked at Charles for a moment with a puzzled expression before a smile crept across her features. “Oh. Ohhh. I see.”

Charles flushed. “You see what?”

She grinned at him. “Doesn’t matter. Thanks for the shirt, brother mine!” She flounced out of the room. 

"Everything bad that happens to me is because of her," he muttered to himself. He couldn't bring himself to be too upset about it, though, when there was the prospect of getting to know Erik better.

Raven and Azzy were nearly inseparable the rest of the night. Charles and Erik spoke a little bit more, but Charles found himself feeling uncharacteristically tongue-tied around the other man. And while Erik was certainly friendly to him, there was nothing he did that gave Charles a clear indication of interest...and, Charles was distracted that his sister’s tongue was down Azzy’s throat all night.

Charles tried very hard not to be too overprotective of the step-sister he shared an apartment with, but the coming months tested his resolve. Azzy and Raven started spending a lot of time together and it became very obvious that they were having sex, and frequently, to Charles’ great discomfort. And unfortunately, Azzy never brought Erik over or even talked about him much. 

One day when Azzy was over Charles made what he hoped was a casual inquiry about his friend Erik. Azzy grinned at him like Charles wasn’t hiding anything. 

“Erik doesn’t live around here,” he said. “He was just visiting for Spring break. He’s coming back this summer, though - we go on a camping trip every year.”

Ah. That would explain why he hadn’t seen Erik around since Raven and Azzy had started dating. 

“He’s straight, though,” Azzy said casually, his eyes glued to Raven as she walked into the room. 

Raven frowned prettily as she sat on Azzy’s lap. “Who’s straight? Oh, are you talking about your friend Erik?”

“Mm-hmm,” Azzy replied, obviously getting distracted by the way Raven was nuzzling his neck. “Straight as an arrow.”

Well, that sucked. Charles tried to swallow his disappointment. He’d already been chiding himself for feeling very nearly obsessed with a man he’d met once at a party over a month ago, and to find out he was straight was...Charles tried not to think the word ‘devastated’, but it seemed the closest to how he felt. He excused himself to his room for the evening.

**

“No,” Raven said into the phone about a month later. “I _don’t_ understand, and I’m not going to 'just be cool about it’.” 

Charles had just walked into room and paused immediately, surprised to hear that tone in Raven’s voice. She saw him but did not acknowledge him, frowning fiercely at the floor. 

“Why do you think I don’t like camping?” She said suddenly. “How would I ever know, if I’m not ever invited to go?”

Charles couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the phone said, but he could guess that it was Azzy. Azzy had said something to him about camping, a while ago...Charles retrieved a wine glass and poured himself some wine as he tried to remember. 

“Well at least ask him!” Raven said, exasperated. 

“What’s going on?” Charles finally said. 

“Azzy and Erik have some kind of ‘bros-only’ deal for their camping trip this weekend, and he’s being a fucking ass about it,” she snapped. “Yes, you are,” she said into the phone. 

“Ah.” Charles considered as he sipped his wine. He had never been camping, but it didn’t seem to be the kind of thing he would enjoy. It made him think of bugs and dirt and everything smelling like smoke. “Well. Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

"Well, Charles is a guy, can he go?" Raven said into the phone. 

Charles stared at her in shock. "What?!" he yelped. 

She smirked at him and spoke into the phone again. "Sure, I'll wait."

"Raven, why did you say that? I don't want to go camping!" Charles' heart was pounding. He'd never been camping, but he could think of one reason he might want to...except that reason was straight, and he didn't want to put himself or Erik in an uncomfortable position. 

Raven rolled her eyes at him and mouthed something he couldn't understand. 

"Oh he does?" The word were spoken to the phone, but Raven had a surprised tone to her voice and her eyebrows were raised nearly to her hairline. She looked at Charles. 

"That's...okay. Yes, thank you, Azzy, and tell Erik thank you as well. We'll see you both Friday." She looked enormously pleased with herself as she hung up the phone. 

"Raven..." Charles sighed. 

She was immediately defensive. "He told me camping wasn't for _girls,_ Charles! How am I supposed to respond to that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe break-up with him?" Charles said pointedly. Charles tolerated Azzy but in his heart of hearts the better he knew the man the more he felt his sister could do better.

"Charrrrrles," Raven said, putting on a pout and walking over to lace her hands behind his neck. "It will be fun. Erik was the deciding factor, you know. When he heard you wanted to come he told Azzy both you and I should come."

Charles sighed again. "First of all, Erik is straight, so while I'm sure I will enjoy his company it's not quite the treat you are implying. Second, neither you nor I has ever been camping. We don't have any camping equipment--"

"--So we'll shop for it together!" Raven said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. "We'll need a tent...I mean I'll probably stay with Azzy and you probably won't want to stay in the tent with us--"

"Definitely not," Charles agreed fervently. "Can we buy an RV?"

Raven laughed. "No, Charles! But we'll both need sleeping bags, and maybe some food that we can cook on a fire..."

"Cook? Without a microwave?" Charles was aghast, which only made Raven laugh harder. 

"Two nights," She said imploringly. "If you hate it, we never have to do it again."

Charles sighed far more dramatically than was probably necessary. " _Fine._ "

**

Shopping was fun, at least. Of course they spent far too much money but Charles figured if they hated camping he could always donate the equipment to a homeless shelter...that made spending the money a little easier to swallow. On the advice of the salesman at the sporting good store, they now had a dome tent (which the salesman assured him even a 7-year-old could put up); two sleeping bags which were guaranteed warm down to twenty degrees fahrenheit; two queen-size inflatable mattress pads; a single-burner stove that ran on propane; camping dishes, silverware, and pots; two thermoses; and two long camping lighters. It was hard to stop purchasing items because all Charles could think was _This isn't a hotel; if I don't have something I can't just call the front desk!_ And really, the range of what he could need in two days’ time was quite large. 

But when he found himself considering if he should buying special camping nail clippers, he realized he needed to draw a line and face the idea that he may just have to live without some things for a few days. 

It was a terrifying thought. 

Raven assured him that Erik and Azzy were bringing fire-making materials, but the one thing Charles was looking forward to about camping was making s'mores, so he made sure that their grocery shopping list - their last stop before leaving town on Friday - included graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. 

**

"How's it going?" Erik asked calmly, only a hint of amusement in his voice.

Raven and Charles had arrived at the campsite after Erik and Azzy, and Raven had immediately run off to go do something with Azzy...get firewood, Charles thought she had said, but he uncharitably thought they were probably just making out. 

Charles had decided to set-up his tent before the sun went down completely, and was finding it a little more difficult than he anticipated. "The salesman said a 7-year-old could set this up," Charles groused. "I guess I should have brought one."

Erik laughed and Charles couldn't help smiling at the happy sound. Erik was wearing jeans and a thick plaid flannel shirt of blue and green that contrasted with his hair color very nicely and really brought out the turquoise-like color of his eyes. 

"Can I help?" he asked. "My tent is a similar design."

"By all means." Charles had laid the tent out per the instructions, he'd assembled the poles, but trying to get them into the little sheaths on the tent was proving difficult. 

"The trick is to make everything about pushing," Erik said, easily pushing a pole into a sheath in a way that would make a 7-year-old jealous. "If you pull, they come apart."

There was a sexual innuendo on the tip of Charles' tongue but he swallowed it, watching Erik's hands instead; those long, tapered, fingers which he could only imagine would feel so good--

"Charles?" Erik was looking him in amusement. The tent was perfectly set-up and looked like the picture on the box.

"You're brilliant," Charles said, "Or, I'm an idiot."

Erik smirked. "Can’t it be both?"

Charles snorted and went to get his sleeping bag from the car. Erik trailed him, laughing, which surprised Charles but he supposed the other man didn't have anything else to do; after all, Erik's tent was already set-up. 

The campsite that Erik and Azzy had picked out was quite large and mostly flat, although the ground behind Charles' tent sloped steeply down into what looked like a dry riverbed overgrown with brush. It was a somewhat shaded site, and this late in the afternoon there was dappled sunlight coming through the trees, making everything glow a little more orange than usual. 

"I've never been camping before," Charles confided to Erik as they arrived at Charles' car. 

"I gathered that," Erik said drily. 

"Well, for being a smartass, you can help me carry some things," Charles said lightly, tossing Raven's sleeping bag into Erik's arms. 

"I expect no less," the other man said with a grin. He kept looking at Charles and it was...distracting. 

Once Charles had his bag and everything else he thought he would need, they started the trek back to the campsite. The campground rules were apparently that cars had to be parked only on the asphalt near the entrance, so it was a little bit of a walk to the site. 

"Is there any kind of a plan for dinner?" Charles said abruptly. "Azzy said something about me getting some hot dogs, so I picked up a package. I usually microwave them."

Erik shook his head. "That is a crime against hot dogs. They’re a lot better roasted over the fire. Um..." Erik hesitated for a moment before continuing. "You didn't happen to notice what kind you bought?"

"I did, actually. It's a preservative-free chicken dog from Trader Joe's," Charles said. "Why?"

"Oh, good. I was just asking because I don't eat pork."

"Oh." Charles didn't know if it would be rude to ask more about that, but he was curious. "Is that a choice for health reasons, or...?"

"Uh, well. I'm Jewish, sort of. I mean my parents were, and I try to...do what I can, anyway." Erik's voice seemed less confident than it usually did. he didn't say anything else for a moment and then said abruptly, "My parents died in a car accident when I was twelve."

"I'm sorry," Charles said, automatically but full of genuine feeling. "That's terrible."

"Yeah. Thanks." Erik squinted at him, as some rays of the sun caught him fully in the face, and Charles felt suddenly...honored, that Erik was being so honest with him. It was disarming. 

"Where did you live after your parents died?" Charles asked. 

"With my aunt." They arrived back at the campsite and Charles tossed his sleeping bag in his tent and put Raven's in Azzy’s. "Unfortunately I had to move across the state and away from all my friends, including Azazel. So we make it a point to see each other as much as possible, ever since then. That's how this camping tradition started."

Erik sat down in one of the folding chairs he'd brought and Charles followed suit. "You would go camping when you were twelve?"

Erik grinned. "Well. We called it camping; the adults called it running away until they realized I always came back."

Charles tried to imagine himself camping when he was a young teenager and couldn't see it. He shook his head ruefully. "We've lived very different lives, my friend."

"I'm sure," Erik agreed easily, but there was a tightness around his eyes. 

"My father passed away when I was five," Charles continued, feeling that Erik was getting an incomplete impression of him and wanting to correct it. "My mother would have been mortified by the idea of camping. The only thing she really wanted was for me to be able to ‘comport myself with aplomb’." He said the last part with a snooty Connecticut accent.

Erik's lip twitched. "I can contort myself with a plum, is that close enough?"

Charles laughed at the ridiculous joke. "I'd like to see that," he said before he could stop himself. 

"I'd be happy to give you a demonstration." The words were spoken in a richer, lower, quieter tone, and to Charles' ears it sounded like liquid sex. He glanced at Erik, startled, only to see a slow smile creep across Erik's face that then turned into a laugh. 

"Azazel never said you were a flirt," Charles said recklessly. Even if this man was straight, he was _fun_.

Erik lifted one eyebrow. "It takes one to know one," he said with a smirk, and then his eyes snapped on something in the distance behind Charles and he waved. Charles turned his head and saw Raven and Azazel coming back carrying firewood. 

"Besides, it's more fun to be surprised, isn't it?" Erik murmured, right in Charles's ear. Charles jerked in surprise and Erik laughed, heading over to Azazel and Raven.

"This weekend is going to be the death of me," Charles muttered to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

“You haven’t busted out the beer yet?” Azazel called to Erik when he and Raven were still about fifty feet away from the chairs circled around the yet-to-be-lit campfire. 

“I was just about to,” Erik said easily, walking to a cooler nearby and pulling out a beer. He turned to Charles. “Want one?”

Charles frowned. “Is drinking allowed by the campground?”

“Huh. I don’t know.” Erik looked thoughtful as he cracked open his beer and took a long slug. “Hey Az, is drinking against the rules here?”

“No idea,” Az said, dropping the firewood he was carrying in a heap near the firepit. “Pass me one, would you?”

“Well, shit.” Charles felt like a fool. “I would have brought something, but I didn’t think it was allowed.”

Erik and Az both looked at each other and laughed. “That’s funny,” Erik said, giving Charles a look that seemed a little too fond. “The best part of camping is being able to drink and crash without having to drive anywhere. But don’t worry, Az and I brought plenty of beer.”

“Charles doesn’t like beer,” Raven piped up, either not seeing or not caring when Charles glared at her. She sat down on Azzy's lap.

Az and Erik both turned to Charles and pinned him with their gazes. “You don’t like _beer_?” Azazel said incredulously. 

“Ah, well, sometimes, but, um...well, it’s getting a little cold for beer, isn’t it? I was actually thinking about boiling some water for tea.” Charles didn’t look at Raven but hoped she wouldn’t throw him under the bus regarding his complete disdain for beer. He didn’t usually feel the need to be macho, but for some reason he didn’t want Erik to know that he didn’t like beer.

Erik looked thoughtful. “I have rum. That goes with tea, right?”

Charles felt a little warmer already. “Actually, yes! That sounds great.” He looked at the firepit and the pile of firewood and tried not to feel intimidated. “I guess making a fire would be a first step in boiling water?” He was more than ready for that, already starting to shiver. He was wearing his warmest wool sweater and a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath.

Raven and Azazel had started murmuring things to each other, cuddled up on the chair together. Charles tried to repress his protective older brother instinct. Raven was an adult and would make her own choices. Charles tried to block the couple out of his awareness.

“Can I give you some advice?” Erik said in a low voice. 

Charles glanced at him with some wariness. “Um, sure.”

“You probably want to get your bed set up now, while there’s still light. If you have to fumble around with an air mattress later when you’re drunk, it will be a lot harder.” Erik spoke again in that low, smooth voice, obviously only intended for Charles to hear. 

Charles realized something else was a lot harder when Erik spoke to him in that voice, but he just swallowed and smiled and tried not to be too obvious about readjusting his pants. “Right. That is---good advice. Making my bed. Yes. I’ll just go do that.”

Erik gave him a knowing look with half a smile and it was on the tip of Charles tongue to tell him straight men weren’t allowed to be as sexy as he was, but instead Charles smiled tightly and walked to his tent and took Erik’s advice. He had a battery-operated inflation device that was very loud but made quick work of inflating the air mattress, which ended up being big enough that it took up almost all of the floor space in the tent. Charles put his single sleeping bag in the middle, thinking that it looked lonely with all the extra space on either side of it. He let his mind wander...what if something happened to Erik’s tent and Erik needed to sleep in Charles’ tent…?

Charles was interrupted from his daydream by a loud shout and laughter from outside the tent. He crawled out and saw a _huge_ bonfire in the campsite’s small firepit. Azzy was laughing as he stood over the fire and squirted some liquid at it that made it roar up further. Raven was shaking her head, her arms crossed, a fond but exasperated look on her face. 

“You’re a fucking pyro, you know that?” she said. 

Azzy just grinned at her. “I know how to make _you_ hot,” he said suggestively, leering at her.

Charles cleared his throat as he approached the fire pit. “I suppose ‘get a room’ doesn’t really work here,” he said lightly. 

“I boiled some hot water for your tea,” Erik said. Charles turned to him in surprise.

“Oh, I thought the fire…” Charles turned to the fire pit with a puzzled look. 

“Well, I saw you had a little camping stove, so I set it up. It takes a long time to boil water on the fire…” Erik trailed off and shrugged. The sunlight was nearly completely gone and in the firelight it was hard to be sure, but...were his cheeks a little redder than usual?

“Well that’s--” _incredibly sweet, and therefore very confusing._ “Um, thank you,” Charles said awkwardly. He shivered again from the cold as he went to get a teabag out of a large tupperware container he’d brought to store food items. 

Erik watched him as Charles put the tea bag in his thermos and poured hot water over it. “Don’t forget the most important part,” Erik said, quickly pulling out a bottle of rum and adding a healthy dollop to Charles’ tea. 

Charles’ jaw dropped at the amount he added. “Are you trying to get me drunk?” he said, half-laughing.

“Well, _I’m_ planning to get drunk, and I don’t want to be by myself,” Erik said reasonably. “I have a feeling those two will duck out early.”

Charles let his eyes slide to where his sister was sitting on Azazel’s lap, giggling about something. He made a disgusted noise despite himself. Erik looked at him in amusement. 

“Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a bit,” Charles said and Erik laughed louder than the joke really deserved. Charles took a sip of his de facto hot toddy and coughed a bit after. 

“Is it too strong?” Erik said with a grin big enough to scare any small wildlife who might have observed it.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Charles said, swallowing another cough. 

The fire appeared to have calmed down a bit, so Charles pulled up a folding chair and sat down in front of it. A moment later, Erik did the same thing, about five feet to Charles’ left. 

Charles just looked into the fire for a moment. He felt surprisingly good. The fire was almost hypnotizing, and gave him something to focus on besides the line of Erik’s jaw or the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed his beer. Charles scooted a bit closer to the fire because despite the hot beverage he was drinking he still felt cold, although the rum did seem to be helping him feel warm. 

In fact, he was feeling the rum quite a bit. Charles thought about when the last time he'd eaten was and realized that in his rush to leave town that afternoon, he had forgotten to eat lunch. “I think I need to eat something,” he said slowly. 

"Are you ready for a wiener?" Erik asked. He smirked at Charles. 

"More than ready," Charles said, grinning right back at him. Erik laughed and got up to go over to the large Rubbermaid bin they were keeping foodstuffs in.

Charles was buzzed, but not so much that he didn't recognize Erik flirting with him. Charles had had straight men flirt with him before, usually because they liked getting attention from men but didn't plan to do anything about it. Charles tried to keep the word 'tease' out of his mind but it crept in anyway. 

Usually Charles dealt with teases by calling their bluff. A joke about a wiener could easily segue into a proposition, which would often make a straight man panic, or at least back off. But Charles didn't want to see _that look_ on Erik's face, the awkward moment when Erik felt like he had to reject Charles...because he _would_ reject Charles. And that would hurt, because Charles was actually liking Erik quite a bit and was enjoying being flirted with himself. Once Charles called his bluff there would be an awkwardness between them, so Charles resolved to just deal with the flirting and to not forget that it was all just a game to Erik.

"Did you bring roasting sticks, or do you do it the old-fashioned way?" Erik asked as he sat down in his seat again with the package of hot dogs. 

"What is the old-fashioned way?" Charles asked, his lips twitching with amusement, feeling there was a sexual innuendo in that comment somewhere. 

Erik held up a thin stick. "This is the old-fashioned way."

Charles giggled and winced despite himself. Erik met his eyes and grinned. "For roasting wieners," he said, obviously biting his lip. 

"Okay, dick jokes aside, are you actually going to put food you plan to eat on that stick that you just picked up off the ground?" Charles asked, still amused but feeling a little disbelief. 

Erik looked at the stick and then back at Charles. His brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Yes? What's wrong with that?"

"But...you don't know where that stick has been!" Charles protested. "It's been sitting in the dirt with bugs and god knows what else crawling all over it!"

"Erik will put anything in his mouth," Azazel said with a laugh. 

Erik smirked and looked at Charles, indicating Az with a tilt of head. He lifted his eyebrows in such a way that he might as well have said _What he said._ Then he winked.

Charles made a strangled sound and gritted his teeth together. Now the man was _winking_ at him? 

"He's too disgusted to speak," Erik said to Azazel, laughing, his eyes still on Charles. 

Charles did not correct him, but he did inhale deeply and then exhale slowly. "I feel very glad now that I bought some steel roasting skewers for Raven and myself." 

"Aw, the germs are half the fun," Erik said, shooting a sly glance at Charles and starting to skewer a hot dog on his stick.

"Some of us happen to believe in protecting ourselves," Charles said smoothly, raising an eyebrow and smirking back at Erik.

Erik made a disparaging sound and shook his head. "The only things in life worth doing are things you take a chance on." Erik locked eyes with Charles and for a moment Charles forgot context or the situation or what was appropriate because all he could see was the firelight flickering off of Erik's ridiculously handsome features. 

He said the first thing that popped into his mind. "I am entirely too drunk for this conversation."

Everyone laughed at that. Charles stood up and swayed a little. 

"Whoa, there, don't fall in the fire," Raven said to Charles, laughing. 

Charles pointed at Erik. "He's trying to get me drunk."

Erik grinned. He had a wiener on his dirty stick and was roasting it over the fire. "Just to take advantage of you. Not to shove you in the fire."

Azzy and Raven roared with laughter but Charles frowned. "Mean," he said petulantly and walked over to the picnic table to find his roasting stick. 

Unfortunately, since it was too dark to see, he tripped on something. He would have fallen on his face except that Erik somehow put an arm in front of his chest to block the fall, so Charles only went down on one knee instead. "Bloody mother fucking hell," he muttered before he realized what he was saying. "Um. Sorry."

Erik snorted and Raven, across the firepit, shrieked with laughter. " _Yes!_ He only swears when he'd drunk. I love him when he's drunk! I love you when you're drunk, Charles."

"You always love me," Charles pointed out, as he accepted Erik's assistance to stand. 

"Yes, but I especially love you when you're drunk," she said, beaming. 

"Well, you owe me a wiener, since I dropped that one in the fire trying to save you from yourself," Erik said, smugly, his face entirely too close to Charles'. Charles could even smell him. He smelled heavenly.

Charles had to take two deep breaths so that he didn't say the first response that came into his mind. _I've got a wiener for you._

"Maybe I saved you," Charles said, meeting Erik's eyes again. "Maybe that wiener you roasted on that dirty stick would have made you sick."

"Hmm." Erik's eyes were half-lidded in the flickering firelight, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he contemplated Charles's face. "I've been eating wieners off sticks for a long time and haven't gotten sick yet."

"Well there's a first time for everything," Charles said in a low voice. He licked his lips, a nervous habit and something he did when he was thinking about kissing. He wasn't thinking clearly and he wondered if it was possible to feel intoxicated by a person. 

"Ah-ha!" Charles had a sudden realization - his cell phone had a flashlight on it! He pulled it out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight. "Now I can see where I'm going!"

Erik laughed and finally sat back down in his seat by the fire. "Did you learn that trick in college?"

"I learned a lot of tricks in college," Charles said, because why stop the innuendos now? Not bothering to look for Erik's reaction, he went to his Rubbermaid tub of supplies and found the roasting sticks he'd bought. "Raven, do you want a wiener?"

"Eww, gross, you're my brother," she said, giggling. Charles rolled his eyes at her and walked carefully back to his seat with the metal roasting skewers, using his phone to light the way. Erik was hunting for another stick with the help of his own cell phone light. Charles sighed. 

"Will you at least pour some water over that stick before you put food on it?" he asked plaintively. 

"If protecting my health is really that important to you, then yes, I will," Erik said, with a fake long-suffering sigh. 

"Thank you," Charles said graciously. Once Erik sat down again, Charles extending his stick out in front of Erik, who had possession of the package of hot dogs. "Now, wiener me, please."

Erik's eyes flared slightly as he shot a glance at Charles' smugly grinning face. "As you wish," he said, taking a hot dog out of the package and slowly pushing it lengthwise onto Charles' roasting stick. 

A frown flickered across Charles' face as he thought about the sexual analogy of what Erik was doing. "Ouch," he said without thinking, and suddenly both of them burst into laughter at the same time. 

"Jeez, get a room," Raven said, mirth in her voice.

"Fuck you," Charles said amiably, having another sip of his highly alcoholic tea now that he was actually preparing to eat some food soon. Raven laughed and clapped her hands gleefully at his swear word. 

Erik went away from the fire a bit and poured some water on his stick, then put a hot dog on it and started roasting it. The wiener Charles was roasting was starting to blister in several places, and he thought it was probably done (since the hot dogs were pre-cooked anyway).

"Would you like a pair of buns for your wiener?" Erik asked innocently. 

"If it's not too much trouble," Charles said calmly, thinking _God give me strength._

Erik handed Charles a bun and Charles pulled his hot dog out of the fire and put the bun on it, using that to pull it off the stick. He contemplated going to the bin to get condiments but it all seemed to complicated for his half-drunk mind and cold body to deal with, so he just ate it as it was. 

It was surprisingly good and with the smoky flavor it didn't really need condiments, actually. "Mmm," Charles said appreciatively, his mouth full. Erik looked at him and even though Charles couldn't make out the expression on his face, he felt himself flushing and feeling confused again. _Erik is straight, Erik is straight_ he told himself because he was actually afraid that if he kept drinking and Erik kept flirting he was going to forget that Erik didn't mean any of this. 

At the abrupt lull in the conversation, Raven said, "Azzy, didn't you bring any music?"

"Of course, baby," he said, sliding his hand over her hip possessively. "I've got my iPod and battery-operated speakers. It's in the tent, you wanna get it with me after we're done eating?"

Charles rolled his eyes. Erik glanced at Charles but didn't say anything as he put his own hot dog in a bun.

Charles needed something to focus on other than Azazel's hands all over his little sister. "Erik," he said, "Where do you attend college?"

Erik swallowed his bite of hot dog. "I don't. Actually, I own my own business. I deal in recycled and repurposed mechanical components."

Azazel laughed loudly. "Erik! You own a _junkyard!_ "

Charles' eyes widened and he looked at Erik, who was looking at the fire, a muscle in his cheek twitching. He looked distinctly unhappy, but he had a tight smile on his face. "Yeah. Well. That's...basically I own a junkyard."

"Aw, don't worry Erik, there's no girls around except my girl," Az said, still laughing, not seeming to notice he was the only one doing so.

"How long have you owned your own business?" Charles asked. For Raven's sake he was trying very hard not to dislike Azazel, but the man was making it hard. 

"Three years," Erik said in a clipped voice after a moment. "For most of that I worked at least twelve hours a day. I finally hired an employee last year so I could take days off."

Charles was fascinated. "But - how old are you?" 

Erik looked at him, but the flirtatious demeanor had been replaced by a guarded one. "Twenty-three, why?"

Charles' jaw fell open. "But - I thought - wow. I thought you were much older." Charles himself was twenty-five and he'd been certain that Erik was older than him. 

A ghost of a smile hovered around Erik's mouth as he looked at Charles. "Well, I've been ridden hard and put away wet."

Charles recognized that Erik's statement was an idiom about horses, but he also didn't miss that the teasing tone had returned to Erik's voice. And Erik was still looking at him, but now he was frowning. 

"Charles. Why are you shaking?"

"Hmm?" Charles hadn't been consciously aware of it, but he was shivering. "Oh. I guess I'm cold. Thank goodness for thermoses!" Charles took a sip of his hot toddy. Now that he had food in his stomach he felt a little less intoxicated, although he was still pleasantly buzzed.

"Why don't you put on a jacket?"

Charles had actually realized about an hour before that he had probably made a terrible packing mistake. "I didn't bring one."

"Charles!" That was Raven, who had managed to pull her face away from Azzy enough to respond to what he said. "I told you it would be cold!"

"It's June, how cold can it get?" Charles said reasonably. Actually he had thought the fire would provide more warmth than it did; it seemed to make his front very hot but he was still very cold on his back. And, he was wearing his wool sweater over a long-sleeved T-shirt; that was usually more than warm enough. 

His teeth chattering didn't really support his statement, unfortunately. 

Erik got up and left his seat without saying anything. "I hope you're getting another beer," Charles called after his back into the darkness. "There was all this talk of getting _me_ drunk, you see, and I--"

"I will get another beer," Erik said, reappearing suddenly on the other side of Charles. Charles snapped his head around and Erik smiled. "But put this on first." He held out a gray canvas jacket to Charles. 

Charles accepted it automatically, refraining from smelling it with every bone in his body. "A jacket? Your jacket? But what are you going to wear?"

Erik was wearing a gray hoodie. He shook his head. "I'm fine," he said. "Unless it rains, but then I think we're all fucked." He grinned to make sure to convey the double entendre.

"Let's hope it rains, then," Charles murmured under his breath as he put the jacket on. He couldn't help inhaling then, and the scent would have made him weak in the knees he had been standing up. The man smelled even better than he looked. 

"What did you say?" Erik asked as he got another beer out of the cooler. 

"Hmm? Nothing." Charles had another sip of his hot toddy. 

"Weeeelll, it's pretty late," Raven said. 

Charles rolled his eyes again. It was about eight o'clcok. But his heart started pounding as he realized what Raven was saying and what the ramifications of it were. 

"Azzy and I feeling pretty tired," She continued, blandly, as she stood up and pulled Azzy to his feet as well. "I think we're gonna--"

"Oh for the love of--just go," Charles finally snapped. Raven stuck her tongue out at him and Azzy followed her to his tent, spanking her on the butt which made her shriek and giggle. 

Charles watched with lips pressed tightly together until the darkness swallowed his sister and her boyfriend. "Are you and Azazel close?" He asked Erik tightly, without looking at him. 

"Hmm. Well." Erik paused and poked the fire a bit before responding. "He's been my best friend since second grade. He was...well, I went through a bit of a phase after my parents died, and Azzy is the only one who was there for me no matter what. So, yeah, I'd say we're close." Erik poked at the fire with a stick, seeming lost in his thoughts for a moment.

Charles just nodded glumly. He was pretty sure he didn't like Azazel much at all - he certainly didn't like the way he treated Raven - and he'd been hoping that maybe Erik and Az weren't that close after all. And a part of him had been hoping that Azazel might have been wrong in his assertion of Erik being 'straight as an arrow'.

Because even being a little drunk, Charles felt Erik's behaviors kept adding up. The flirting, the innuendos, making tea for Charles, letting Charles wear his jacket...

"This trip is usually just you and Azazel?" Charles asked Erik. 

Erik nodded. "I'm glad you and Raven came, though."

"You don't feel she's taking your best friend away from you?"

"Well, in a way, but he provided entertainment for me." Erik's voice was low and faintly amused. 

"Is that what I am?" Charles asked lightly. 

"That's a compliment. It takes a lot to entertain me."

Charles snorted. "I'm not even making an effort."

"That bodes well."

"Can you--" _Can you not,_ was on the tip of Charles tongue, but he didn't really want Erik to stop. The man was witty, and quick. And handsome as hell. Charles put his face in hands hands for a moment and groaned.

"Can I what? Do you need something?" Charles wasn't looking at Erik, but he sounded concerned. 

"I. Um." Charles tried to think of something to make sense of what he'd said and realized that his body was actually trying to tell him something. "If I need to use, the, uh, facilities..."

"You need to take a piss? Want me to hold it for you?"

Erik laughed at loud at the horrified and conflicted look on Charles' face. "Oh, that was great. Just go, man. That's the second best thing about camping. Just don't piss near my tent. Or yours, I guess."

"Ah." Charles was not accustomed to peeing outside but it did make sense...although it did beg a follow-up question. "What if I have to, um..." he tried to convey his meaning to Erik by waving his arms ineffectually. 

"Yes, Charles?" Erik was smirking at him, _again,_ was that the man's default expression? Charles wasn't sure if he knew what Charles was going to ask or not. 

Charles cleared his throat and just said it. "What if I need to take a shit?"

"You didn't bring a shovel?"

Erik lasted about three seconds before he laughed uproariously. "Your face! Oh my god. Charles, there are flush toilets and showers a short walk from here."

"There are?" Charles felt almost weak with relief. "I'll actually be able to _shower_ this weekend?"

"If you have quarters for hot water," Erik said. "Or if you don't mind cold showers."

"I'll probably need one," Charles mumbled. He wasn't sure if Erik heard him or not. 

There was a moment of silence as the conversation lulled. Charles took another sip of his highly alcoholic tea and was surprised to discover he had almost finished it. Well, the pressure in his bladder made more sense, now. 

Speaking of..."I'll be right back," Charles said, standing up and swaying only slightly. He remembered to pull out his cell phone for the flashlight and then frowned. "Crap. It's been on the whole time. That will kill the battery."

"I have an actual flashlight you can borrow, if your phone does die," Erik said, bent over the cooler and getting himself another beer. "I'll try and get some music going for us while you're gone."

Nothing too romantic, Charles hoped. He walked away from the camp, far enough that he knew Erik wouldn't be able to hear him urinating but he still kept the campfire and the other man in his sight. It actually took him a second to convince his shy bladder to let loose while Charles shivered at the feeling of the cold air on his penis. 

When he came back, Erik had set up an ipod and speakers on the picnic table and there was a song playing that Charles vaguely recognized. "Is this..." his brow crinkled as he searched his mind for the name. "Pink Floyd?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

Charles shrugged. "Sure." The song was actually slow and kind of dreamy. "They use a lot of major 7th chords. You don't hear a lot of that in rock."

Erik looked very impressed and Charles tried not to preen. "You're a musician?"

"Mmm, not really. I was forced to play violin as a child and I've always just had a good ear."

Erik was still looking at him. Charles couldn't make out his facial expression, and as Erik kept looking Charles almost wanted to squirm in his gaze. 

"I," Erik started to say and then stopped. He laughed a little. "I can't believe I'm about to tell you this, but I wanted to be a gymnast when I was a child."

"A gymnast?" Charles was amused. "Backflips and aerials and doing the splits, that kind of thing?"

"Yes." Both men laughed. "I was good at it," Erik said, almost defensively. "I was taking gymnastics classes until--well. You've already heard about that."

Until his parents died, Charles guessed. He suddenly felt a pang for Erik. Obviously that had changed a lot for him. 

It would have been easy for the mood to become maudlin at that point, so Charles hastily said, "Are you still flexible?"

Erik grinned at him. "Oh yeah. In fact...wait. No. No, I'm drunk enough to tell you that yet."

"Can I get you another beer?" Charles asked immediately, with an eyebrow waggle. Erik laughed again and held up the beer in his hand. 

"But _you_ appear to have drunk all your drink," Erik said to Charles pointedly. "Something should be done about that."

"I'd be grateful for more rum tea, if you have more rum," Charles said coyly.

"Well, since it's for a good cause," Erik said, looking at Charles sidelong with a slight smile on his lips. He stood up. "I'll re-heat the water for you, too."

That was good, since Charles wasn't entirely sure how to use the little stove he'd bought. Although he wasn't going to admit that to Erik. 

Charles coughed and realized that for some reason all the smoke from the fire was blowing in his face. "Ugh," he said, waving his hand. "Smoke. Can't breathe."

"Smoke follows beauty," Erik called from where he was standing by the picnic table, boiling more water for Charles. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Charles said, coughing, waving his hand in front of his face. He really couldn't tolerate this. He picked up his chair and moved it over so that he was out of the direct path of the smoke. 

Erik sat down next to him - extremely close next to him. Charles hadn't noticed quite how close he had moved to Erik's chair.

"It's something told to people sitting in the smoky spot around a campfire so they aren't quite so unhappy." With an apologetic smile, Erik handed Charles his thermos, now filled with hot water...and more rum, by the smell. Charles sniffed the open thermos and raised an eyebrow at Erik. 

Erik shrugged one shoulder. "Seemed like a timesaver." 

Charles put a teabag in and reclosed the thermos. "Well, I outsmarted the smoke by moving. Let me know if I'm crowding you."

Erik turned his head to look directly at Charles. As close as he was now sitting, Charles felt uncomfortable meeting his eye. "You can't be--" Erik started to say and then stopped. He chuckled a little and shook his head. "You're not crowding me."

"Well good," Charles said softly, not looking at Erik, feeling sure that the pounding of his heart was obvious to both of them. He took a big sip of his 'tea' which was mostly just rum and hot water. 

"You know what would make this romantic scene perfect?" Erik mused. 

Charles tried not to choke on his tea. He could think of a lot of things that fit that description, most involving the removal of clothing, but instead he just tried to swallow his mouthful of rum water casually and almost pulled it off. "What would that be?" he finally managed to say. 

Erik smiled slowly and _looked at Charles' fucking lips_ before he carefully enunciated, "Marshmallows."

"Marsh--oh. Oh! Of course! S'mores is the one thing I like about camping. I mean, not that I knew what I liked so much as what I thought I would like; I mean the one thing I knew about camping and expected to like, because, well, who doesn't like marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers?" Charles knew he was babbling but Erik was just getting too close to the line. He looked like he wanted to kiss Charles! If Charles forgot himself and kissed him...well...that would be bad because of something that Charles had decided earlier. Charles' brain felt foggy but he was sure there was a very good reason he wasn't kissing Erik.

Erik was now leaning away from Charles, just slightly. His brow was furrowed. "You're not--"

"Do you have the stuff to make s'mores, or is it back in the bin?" Charles asked hastily. Something awkward was happening and he didn't understand what. Erik was frowning now and Charles didn't like that as much as he liked it when Erik was grinning at him and flirting with him. 

"I have it here," Erik said, still frowning slightly, producing a box of Graham crackers, a chocolate bar, and a bag of marshmallows. 

Charles grinned. "My first actual s'more! I mean, not counting making them in the microwave."

Erik paused in opening the bag of marshmallows with a look of horror on his face. "Tell me you didn't do that."

"Oh, hush, everyone does that," Charles said, laughing. "It's like trying to suck your own dick. Every guy tries that." 

It had honestly been the first thing he'd thought of in the 'everyone does this but nobody talks about it' category, so Charles was pleased that his comment succeeded in bringing the conversation back around to the lighthearted flirtiness they'd been enjoying before. 

"Tries?" Erik said with raised eyebrow. "Some of them must be successful."

"Oh, probably," Charles said, waving a hand in the air. "But I'm sure they never leave the house."

Erik's smirk was growing bigger. "You'd be surprised."

There was something a little too knowing in Erik's smirk. "No," Charles breathed, studying the other man's face for signs of the truth. "Don't tell me you can do that."

Erik grinned even bigger. He proffered a white puffy cylinder to Charles. "Marshmallow?"

Charles accepted his marshmallow and put it on his long metal roasting skewer. He was pleased when Erik picked up the other metal skewer Charles had bought for Raven instead of finding a stick again to roast his own marshmallow. "Thank you," Charles said automatically, holding it above the flames. 

"I'd much rather demonstrate than tell," Erik murmured after a moment and Charles looked at him, puzzled, until his brain caught up with the last thing they'd been talking about. His jaw dropped and he didn't notice that his marshmallow caught on fire.

"Oh, no," he said, dismayed. He carefully brought it close to his face and blew it out and looked at the charred lump sadly. "It's ruined."

"No, that's perfect!" Erik scooped the blackened, white-oozing sticky mess off Charles skewer and stuffed it in his mouth, licking his fingers off afterward. 

Despite how distracting that was, Charles was aghast. "Why would you--doesn't that taste like charcoal??" 

Erik shrugged. "Just the outside. You should try it."

Charles shuddered. "I don't think so. It was just starting to look golden-brown before it caught fire; I think that's the kind of marshmallow I want to eat."

Erik looked at him assessingly and nodded. "Yeah, you probably do." There was something derisive in his tone. 

Charles frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, people who want their marshmallows _just right_ , who will only accept them if they are all golden and melty through and through - you do seem like that kind of person."

That kind of marshmallow sounded amazing to Charles, but he bristled at what Erik was hinting at. "Are you saying-- what, I'm a perfectionist?"

Erik smiled, not pleasantly. "That's a nice way of putting it." He wasn't looking at Charles, focusing on roasting his own marshmallow. 

Charles, frowning, hadn't looked away from Erik. Something was definitely bothering the other man. He's been nothing but lighthearted and pleasant when the evening began, but recently there had been a kind of unpleasantness in some of his comments and Charles felt concerned that he might be the cause of it. "Are we..." he trailed off. "Did I say or do something that offended you, my friend?" 

Eri seemed surprised by the question, glancing at Charles' face and then quickly away. "I..." Erik chuckled a little and shook his head. "Perhaps. Perhaps I should think less highly of myself. I'm sorry. In apology, may I offer you--" Erik pulled his roasting stick out of the fire and held it in front of Charles. "--the perfect marshmallow?" 

It was golden brown, with a bubbled but not charred crust, and it was clearly so melty inside that it was nearly falling off the stick. "Oh!" Charles jolted, quickly slapping together some graham cracker and chocolate and using that to slide the marshmallow off the stick. He brought the sandwich-like sweet to his mouth and took an awkward bite. "Um mum gob," he mumbled around the melty sticky crunchy sweetness in his mouth, closing his eyes. He swallowed and looked at Erik, clearing his palate before he tried to speak again. "It's really good."

Erik's eyes were hooded, and in the firelight Charles couldn't make out his expression, but his eyes were glued to Charles' face. "I'm glad you like it," he said softly. His face was turned to face Charles fully and Charles could see that on the far side of his mouth there was a streak of white marshmallow cream from the corner of his mouth to his chin. 

"You've got--" Charles' voice felt suddenly dry at the image, as he imagined what Erik would look like with a different kind of white smear on his face. "You've got some--there's--" he gestured helplessly at Erik's face, sure that he was blushing and hoping it couldn't be seen in the firelight. 

"Do I have something on my face?" Erik asked in a low voice. Charles nodded dumbly. Erik lifted his chin and exposed more of his long neck to bring the smear closer to Charles. "Will you get it for me?"

"Um, I don't have..." Charles' voice trailed off as Erik reached for Charles' hand and lifted it to his face. Charles swiped at the smear with his thumb but it only spread it more making it look more like...

"I'll get you a--a--thing," Charles stammered, rising out of his chair and going over to the table to search through his Rubbermaid bin. "I need one, anyway, my hands are a mess." He couldn't think of the word, but he found what he was looking for: small packets labelled moist towelettes. He grabbed a handful and brought them over to his chair with him. "Here," he said, putting one in Erik's hand. 

Erik just looked at it for a moment and seemed about to speak when a loud crack of thunder made both of them jump. They looked at each other in shock as a few fat raindrops fell. 

Charles felt both anxious and slightly disappointed by the fact that rain seemed imminent, because it meant they would probably both go to their separate tents - there wasn't any kind of communal cover. Erik, however, was distraught. 

" _Shit._ " He stood up and looked around the fire and at the picnic table. "I'll bring the speakers back to Azazel, and we can put most of this in your Rubbermaid bin - it will be safe there. _Dammit_!"

Erik seemed more upset than was justified, in Charles' opinion. "Thank goodness we have tents. I guess we'll just call it an early evening."

Erik rubbed his hands over his face and sighed hard. "Yeah. Um, sorry to ask this, but do you think I can get my jacket back? I'm going to have a rough night as it is."

"Of course," Charles said automatically, shedding the jacket and handing it Erik. "But what do you mean, a rough night?"

Erik laughed mirthlessly. "I lost the rain cover to my tent years ago. It's just an open screen on the top."

Charles' mouth opened in shock. The rain was starting to come faster now, and there was a flash of lightning that flickered above the trees. Charles started to speak but, was drowned out by the thunder. 

"I said, I have plenty of room in my tent," Charles repeated hastily. "Come stay with me. YOu can't sleep under a screen. You'll catch pneomnia."

Erik looked at him and seemed torn. "Are you sure? Because I--"

"Of course I'm sure," Charles said vehemently, with a frown. "What kind of a person do you think I am? Go and get your sleeping bag before it gets too wet. Oh! Are Raven and Azazel going to be okay? Does his tent have a rain cover?"

"Yes, he just got a new one," Erik said. "And--thank you. Will you put away the food? I'll get my stuff and meet you over at your tent." 

"Good," Charles said, putting the s'more makings into the Rubbermaid bin and making sure it was tightly sealed. He grabbed his thermos and an extra beer for Erik before it occurred to him...Erik was going to spend the night in his tent. Exactly what Charles had wished for earlier that evening. 

The odds that Charles would not make a fool of himself by propositioning Erik at some point in the next twelve hours plummeted, along with Charles' faint hope that he'd be able to jerk off that night in privacy. He took a long sip of his rum and tea and sighed. He was apprehensive, but he couldn't help being a little excited too.


	3. Tent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some feels in this chapter; nothing too intense. Thank you for all the kind comments!

Charles started to crawl into his tent and looked around. He had a bizarre urge to clean, like he was having company over...over to the brand-new temporary structure which contained nothing but clothes and his sleeping bag and an air mattress. 

He realized right away he had a problem - shoes. If he left them outside they would get wet, but if he brought them inside they would make everything muddy (since it was raining enough already that the bottoms and sides of his shoes were caked with it.)

“Trash bags,” Charles murmured to himself, remembering that he’d bought a box of large plastic trash bags. They were with the food at the picnic table, but it seemed to him that it would be more useful to have them in the tent for water-proofing purposes. 

The rain was coming down harder, but Charles was determined to use the last of his iPhone’s battery to make the walk quick. He zipped up his tent as quickly and carefully as he could and walked back to the picnic table - where a wet Erik was standing and looking uncertain. 

“What are you looking for?” Charles asked, as he quickly got the box of trash bags out of his Rubbermaid bin. 

“Uh, actually, your tent,” Erik said, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “I thought I remembered where it was, but I couldn’t find it.” He was holding a rolled-up sleeping bag half-tucked under his jacket and a duffle bag. Charles assumed the duffle held his clothes, which made sense - he wouldn’t want to leave them to get wet in his tent.

“This way,” Charles said, not wanting to waste time standing in the rain. He resisted the part of himself that wanted to tease Erik for being the more experienced camper and losing track of Charles’ tent. 

“Why are you so far from the campsite?” Erik asked. “Your tent is practically in the ditch.”

Charles snorted. “I wanted to be as far from Raven and Azzy’s tent as possible. Didn’t want to overhear anything.”

Erik made a sympathetic noise. Their footsteps squelched as Erik followed Charles to his tent, their way lit by the weakening light of Charles’ phone. Charles pulled out a trash bag as they approached his tent. “For shoes,” he explained to Erik, unzipping his tent and sitting down on his air mattress with his feet outside the tent, leaving enough room next to him that Erik could do the same. He took off his shoes and put them in the trash bag. 

“You are resourceful,” Erik commented as he sat down and took of his shoes. “I like that.”

Charles felt a warm glow at the words even as he chastised himself for being pleased by having Erik’s approval. “Well, I didn’t remember to bring a jacket, so I’m not sure I can agree with you,” he said self-deprecatingly. 

Erik grinned at him, his teeth barely visible in the darkness. “Oh right, I forgot about that. I withdraw my comment.”

“You can’t,” Charles said smugly, as he squirmed his way into the tent. “I’m keeping it. I am resourceful.” It was blessedly dry inside, and Charles took off his wool sweater immediately as that was the wettest garment he was wearing. He put that into another plastic bag. He considered taking off his pants because they were somewhat wet as well but he hesitated because of the circumstances. Discomfort warred with modesty as he decided to put off that decision for a few more minutes. 

“How many of those trash bags do you have?” Erik asked as he took off his damp jacket (the same one Charles had been wearing earlier). 

“A whole box, at least forty or fifty I think,” Charles said, and couldn’t resist adding, “I’m resourceful, remember? Help yourself.”

Erik snorted and got a trash bag out of the box and stuffed his jacket in it. Then he laid back on the air mattress and sighed, a happy relaxed sound. He spoke after a moment, a strange awkwardness to his voice. “Thank you. For this. I hope...I mean, I don’t expect--”

“Say nothing else about it,” Charles said brusquely. “Honestly, what kind of person would I be to let you sleep under nothing but a screen in a rainstorm?”

Erik was silent a moment. “Well. I’m lucky that you’re a good person, I guess.” There was something in his voice that hinted that he might mean something that he wasn’t saying. 

Charles didn’t feel like a good person. Erik’s proximity was intoxicating and Charles was trying to shut down the fantasies his brain kept spinning without his consent, mostly centered around the idea that Erik would get grabby in his sleep without knowing it. Considering the opposite was more likely true - that Charles would be the one to get grabby - made Charles press the back of his fist against his mouth as he exhaled through his nose. 

Once both Charles and Erik were in the tent, there was a moment of terrible awkwardness as both men lay silently next to each other, and Charles could feel anxiety clawing it’s way up his throat. The rain slapped drops of water onto the tent outside, sounding far louder than it should. He cast about desperately for something to talk about. It was too early to sleep, but all of their previous topics of conversation had been sexual innuendos and Charles thought he just might straddle Erik if the man started flirting again now. 

To make matters worse, his pants were wet from the rain, and it was making him uncomfortable. Well, it was dark in the tent. Maybe Erik wouldn’t notice if he took them off? Charles started to strip his pants off as surreptitiously as possible, which was impossible, because Erik bounced on the air mattress with every move Charles made. 

Finally Erik chuckled. “Dare I ask what you’re doing?”

“My pants are wet. I’m taking them off,” Charles said after a panicked moment of trying to think what he should say and uttering the truth by default, not because his mind had reached an actual decision.

“Well if that’s my fault, I apologize,” Erik said in a low, amused tone, then he immediately said, “Sorry, sorry.” 

“Well, you should be,” Charles huffed, finally succeeding in getting his pants off and hurrying to shove his cold and clammy legs in his sleeping bag. “It’s not very nice what you’ve been doing to me, you know.” 

“I haven’t been _nice_ to you?” Erik said incredulously. “I beg to differ!”

“No, I mean, you’re lovely, I just…” Charles sighed. Of course he knew the fun banter couldn’t last all night. Things always had to come into the open. “It’s not very fair, is it? Looking like you do and then...when you say things like…” Charles sighed again. “But you are, you know, who you are, and...I mean, we can’t…” Charles trailed off awkwardly. He was never this inarticulate. Why was this so hard?

“I am--who I am? What does that mean? Are you...anti-semitic?”

Charles snapped his head to the side so fast it hurt. “ _What_?”

Erik chuckled softly. “I’m sorry. That was--a very bad joke. I...know what you meant.” There was still an unpleasantness to his voice though. 

Charles tried to puzzle that out. Maybe Erik--didn’t _like_ being straight? How would that even work? What else could explain the slight edge of resentment in his voice? Maybe...he would be willing to experiment, but he had a girlfriend? 

That last thought took hold in Charles’ mind and would not let go. He was sure he was not a good person at all when he said, “You know, I grabbed you a beer.”

“Holding out on me, hmm? That seems just like you.” The words were softly teasing and Charles barely refrained from groaning in confusion and frustration. He got the beer and handed it to Erik and took a long drink of his own thermos of rum tea, still blessedly hot. 

Erik moved up in his elbows so he could drink his beer. Charles shamelessly watched the other man’s silhouette in the near-blackness of the tent, sure that he could not be seen looking. Then he saw Erik turn his head to him and Charles quickly moved his head so that he was staring straight up, his heart pounding. He realized he was biting his lip and immediately stopped, hoping the light was dim enough that Erik couldn’t see that. 

“Since _you_ did it…” Erik started moving around a lot and Charles realized that he was also taking off his pants. Charles breathed shallowly, forcing himself not to look, not to _move,_ when there was a bright flash of lightning from outside and Charles curled towards Erik instinctively - and the image of the bare lower half of Erik’s body was burned into his retinas, complete with what appeared to be an unfairly sizable, circumcised cock. 

Charles lay flat on his back again, gritting his teeth, breathing harder than he wanted to be. Erik had also taken off his underwear? Or he hadn’t been wearing any to begin with?

“Are you alright?” Erik said, seeming actually concerned. “I don’t think we’re in any danger from the lightning. There are taller objects around.” He was still moving around; getting into his sleeping bag, Charles presumed.

Charles grabbed his thermos and took a long fortifying sip. “I’m fine, thank you,” he said once he was sure that he could speak normally. 

“It’s okay to be afraid,” Erik said softly. “You don’t have to--pretend.”

“I’m doing nothing but pretending,” Charles said before he could think. 

“Okay,” Erik said softly after a moment. “I just--I want to--can I...oh, shit, I’m just gonna--” Erik slipped his left arm under Charles’ head and reached his left arm over to pull Charles’ left shoulder towards him. 

Charles stiffened in shock. Now Erik wanted - to _cuddle_? Charles made a small whimper, involuntarily. 

“If this isn’t okay, please just tell me,” Erik murmured into Charles’ hair. In response, since his vocal cords appeared to be paralyzed, Charles moved his left arm and wrapped it around Erik’s waist. Erik relaxed then, and started absent-mindedly stroking Charles’ back with his right hand. 

Charles tried to keep his hips back, because from the moment Erik had started touching him he had felt himself getting hard. He felt his own hand moving on Erik’s back, slowly but firmly, almost like it had a mind of its own. Erik exhaled against his hair, and the breath contained a small vocalization, almost a...moan?

Thunder crashed around them and even though Charles wasn’t scared (he was an adult; he wasn’t scared of _lightning_ and _thunder_ ) he pressed closer to Erik--and then immediately pulled back, his cheeks burning, because there was no way that Erik hadn’t felt his erection, even through both their sleeping bags. 

His head was still resting on Erik’s arm, though. Erik didn’t say anything for a few moments, when he turned back to Charles. He lay on his side, this time, and carefully put his hand flat on Charles’ chest. “Can I ask you something?” he whispered, so softly that Charles felt it more than heard it. 

Charles still didn’t trust his voice, but he nodded. 

“Do you want me?”

Charles closed his eyes and exhaled. Was this all about ego? Erik needed to prove to himself that he was hot? That was...that couldn’t be right. No, that didn’t fit. He didn’t know Erik well, but he just seemed to be more confident than that. Erik appeared to be waiting for an answer to his question and Charles sighed when he realized he couldn’t realistically deny it, not now. Not after - what had just happened. 

“Something tells me you already know the answer to your question,” he finally said, defeated. If he was going to be mocked now, so be it. 

“Then why…” Erik’s voice trailed off as his fingers started tracing designs on Charles’ chest. He abruptly made a derisive sound. “Nevermind. Maybe I don’t want to know.”

Charles frowned. “What are you talking about?” He could barely think. The alcohol combined with Erik touching him was slowly eroding his sanity. 

“You’re not exactly my type either, you know,” Erik continued, with a certain stubborn quality to his tone. His hand had moved up to Charles’ chin, where he dragged his thumb across to stubble there. 

Stubble. Not something women have. Charles jerked his head away from Erik, feeling sure that Erik was disgusted by what he felt on Charles’ chin. “Oh, I’m very much aware of that,” Charles said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone. 

Erik stilled. “What does _that_ mean?” 

And Charles immediately regretted his action and tone. “Nothing. I’m sorry. I’m just...you are making me feel a little crazy at the moment.”

Erik made a strangled sound. “I’m making _you_ feel crazy? I’ve been throwing myself at you all night and you don’t…” He fell flat on his back and took his arm out from under Charles’s neck. “No. Sorry. Nevermind.”

They both lay there on their backs. Charles’ brain was desperately trying to work out what was happening and where he had gone wrong. For a moment there...it had looked like…

Erik said he had been throwing himself at Charles? Charles thought back over the evening in his mind. Erik had been funny, and sweet, and flirty and...Charles suddenly felt like an ass. In retrospect it was obvious: Erik wanted Charles, at least somewhat; he was at least curious. 

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Charles said suddenly.

“No,” Erik said quickly, and then said, “Wait, is _that_ what this has all been about?”

“What all what has been about?” Charles asked cautiously. There was still a chance he had misread the situation.

“All this--” Erik gestured vaguely in the air. “Hot and cold, back and forth. Did you think I had a girlfriend?”

“No,” Charles said honestly. “That didn’t even occur to me until a few minutes ago.” Charles continued lying there, pondering the new idea that Erik did _not_ have a girlfriend and also seemed to be interested in Charles at least to some extent. This was a good thing, his mind told him drunkenly, and Charles had to agree. With himself. He almost giggled but manfully resisted. 

“I blame the marshmallows,” Charles said seriously. 

Erik made a couple sounds that might have been the beginnings of words. “I - uh - wha -”

Charles sighed theatrically. “Our relationship was going great until then.”

“Our relationship--” Erik made a loud but muffled groaning sound into the crook of his elbow. 

“Why did you say that I would like the golden bubbly marshmallow?” Charles asked calmly, turning his head to look in Erik’s direction, even though he couldn’t actually see much. “Something about me being a perfectionist.”

Erik rolled up on his elbow to face Charles again. “Because I’m not the golden bubbly marshmallow. I’m the charred marshmallow.”

Charles considered that as he faced Erik. “How do you figure?”

“Because--” Erik sighed. He put his hand on Charles’ chest again, stroking gently. “It feels silly to explain.”

“It feels silly to be afraid of lightning and thunder,” Charles said. “But I pretended I was anyway to get closer to you.”

Erik laughed loudly. “You were at least a little scared,” he said, and Charles could hear in his voice that he was still smiling, but the smile had faded by the next time he spoke. 

“Because...because I have lived through fire. Metaphorically.” The movement of his hand slowed on Charles’ chest. “I feel--charred, ugly. Not necessarily externally,” he said, putting two fingers on Charles’ lips when he started to protest. “And that makes it sound worse than it is. I just figure that you...you want the best marshmallow. You deserve the best. You seem like someone who’s always gotten the best--marshmallow.” 

The rain started pounding down even harder on the tent. There was an incredibly intimate feel to the moment, and Charles wondered if how many people Erik had talked with this way. He caught Erik’s hand with his own and brought it to his cheek. 

“We don’t know each other that well,” Charles said softly, “But I can tell you already that I view you with a little bit of awe. And that has nothing to do with your physical appearance.”

“You silver-tongued devil,” Erik murmured. “As if I could believe that. You hardly know me.”

Charles smiled and brought up his right hand to touch Erik’s hair. “I know you own your own business, and that you passed on college. I know you do what you want to regardless of what you are supposed to do. And I wish, Erik...I honestly wish I had that kind of courage. I always do what I’m supposed to. I...get good grades, I obey every law no matter how stupid it is, I pursue a career in what is arguably the most secure kind of position - tenured academic faculty.” Charles stroked down and across Erik’s chin, enjoying the stubble there. “The fact that you look like a model is icing on the cake.”

Erik didn’t say anything for a moment and Charles suddenly wondered if he was being too presumptuous. He started to pull his hand away when Erik said, in a thick, gravelly voice, “Can I kiss you?”

The split second before his lips touched the other man’s Charles breathed, “Are you sure?”

The kiss began chastely but rapidly picked up speed as Charles opened his lips tentatively. “Am I _sure_?” Erik growled against his mouth. “How can you even ask me that? I’m not the one whose interest was in doubt.”

Charles rolled on top of Erik, his sleeping bag twisted around him awkwardly between him and Erik. “You’re the one who is supposedly straight.” He kissed Erik from the new position, enjoying that he could feel Erik getting hard even through god knows how many layers of sleeping bag. Erik tilted his head back and Charles kissed down that lovely neck he’d been admiring all evening. 

“Do I seem straight to you?” Erik growled, bringing his hands inside Charles’ sleeping bag to cup Charles’ ass cheeks. “Have I done a single thing this evening that would make you think I’m straight?” He let out a small sound of pleasure as Charles experimented with using teeth on his neck. 

“But--Azazel said you were,” Charles said, confused, pulling back to look Erik in the eye. “You told me he’s your best friend - I figured he would know.”

“Azazel--he--oh, god,” Erik groaned, pulling Charles up his body his his ass cheeks. It made Charles’ erect cock drag pleasantly against the other man and he made a small soft moan and ground his hips a little. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

Charles took the hint and started kissing his way down Erik’s chest, struggling to get both of their sleeping bags out of the way. When he had gotten enough material out of the way that he had revealed Erik’s fully erect cock, he said, “I think I found another reason to like you.”

“You and your silver tongue,” Erik said, breathing heavily, looking down at Charles. Charles grasped Erik’s cock firmly and enjoyed the tortured look on Erik’s face as he clutched handfuls of sleeping bag on either side of his body.

Charles pressed the flat of his tongue to the underside of Erik’s cock for a moment before pulling back to speak. “You should work on your subtlety.”

“Seems to be working just fine,” Erik gasped, his head going back as Charles enveloped his cockhead with his mouth. 

Charles started slowly pumping with his fist. “I’m not going to last,” Erik warned in a strangled voice. “I’ve been hard for hours, on and off.” 

“Well, that’s flattering. Now who’s the silver-tongued devil?” Charles said teasingly, licking around the head of Erik’s cock and glancing simultaneously up to his face. 

“Oh fuck, look at you,” Erik breathed, his eyes locked on Charles’ face. Charles turned his head sideways so he could keep eye contact with Erik while simultaneously licking the head of his cock and pumping the shaft. It wasn’t long until Erik’s thigh muscles clenched and Charles pulled his mouth off as Erik came, stroking him through it. 

“Come here,” Erik said, insistently dragging Charles up next to him for a deep kiss. He groped for Charles’ penis but Charles gently dissuaded him. 

“It’s alright,” he murmured, kissing Erik’s neck while he pushed his hand away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Erik’s head fell back and he made a contented sound, but a moment later he turned to Charles with a frown. “Wait. You don’t think--you don’t still think I’m straight, do you?”

Charles considered carefully how to respond. “How you define yourself is up to you. I don’t want you to feel rushed--”

“Oh, for--” Erik laughed and pulled Charles into a side-hug, so as to avoid getting ejaculate on Charles. “I’ve been with men before. I mean it, I’m not straight.”

“Oh.” Charles lay with his head on Erik’s shoulder for a moment. “So Azzy--lied to me? Why would he do that?”

Erik rested his head against Charles’ for a moment and sighed. “He didn’t lie. I just...I haven’t figured out how to tell him.”

Charles made an interested noise, but didn’t comment. He sought out Erik’s right hand with his left one and interlaced their fingers. He felt that Erik had more to say, and a moment later his patience was rewarded when Erik continued. 

“Azazel was...well, he was the only person who seemed to give a shit about me when my parents died. To everyone else, to the courts, to my aunt and uncle, I was suddenly a burden, a problem, something that had to be dealt with. But Azzy never got tired me and he always stuck with me. Even when I ran away. And I did that a lot.” 

Erik shivered and Charles suddenly realized the man had semen cooling on his stomach and he probably was too polite to pull Charles’ sleeping bag into the mess. Charles grabbed for one of his T-shirts out of his backpack and covered the mess with it before pulling the sleeping bag up to cover both of them a little bit more. 

“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Charles said softly. “Go on.”

Erik gave Charles a very serious, almost sad look before tenderly kissing him on the forehead. “You’re very sweet. Thank you.” 

Charles just snuggled close to his side, feeling warm and content. 

“So...anyway. Even after I moved away, Az and I texted and Skyped constantly, stayed in touch through social media, and of course we went camping together every summer. I knew I was gay from about the time I was fourteen, and it was never really an issue when I was hanging out with Azzy. I’ve never seen him as anything but a brother, just so you know. He was into girls so I pretended I was, too.” Erik rubbed the arm wrapped under Charles along Charles’ hip and sighed. “And now I’ve been pretending for so long that I don’t know how to be honest with him without really upsetting him.”

“Do you think he’ll be that upset?” Charles asked. “He doesn’t seem to care that I’m gay.”

“I don’t know,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I feel like we’ve spent so much time apart in recent years - he’s been busy with college and I’ve been working on my business - that I feel sometimes like I barely know him anymore. He’s definitely got different priorities now, and I guess...with even less in common…” Charles could feel Erik swallow against his head. “He’s like my brother. I don’t want to lose him.”

Charles felt tears of sympathy come to his own eyes at the obvious catch in Erik’s voice. He moved higher so that he could hold Erik against his chest, stroking his hair and making soothing sounds. Erik curled against him, at first with some reluctance, but after a few minutes of trying to breathe normally he began shuddering silently against Charles. Charles felt tears against his chest and he stroked Erik’s back, projecting as much caring and support as he could. 

“You must think…” Erik sniffed and rubbed at his face with the back of his hand. “God, what you must think of me. Really sexy, right. Very masculine.”

“I don’t expect you to believe me,” Charles murmured, “But: yes, actually.” Charles smiled a little, a few tears still clinging to his eyelashes, still stroking Erik’s back. “Both of those things.”

Erik tilted his head to look at Charles and a flash of light illuminated his face for a moment. The expression on his face was so naked, so full of pain and beauty at the same time that Charles’ breath caught in his throat. 

“Charles,” Erik said, and his mouth landed on Charles’. He kissed hungrily, like he was a drowning man and Charles’ lips were water. He pushed Charles onto his back and kept kissing him, more deeply. “Charles,” he said again. 

“You like my name,” Charles observed, a smile on his lips, when Erik pulled back to look at him. Charles put a hand on the side of Erik’s face and stroked a thumb across his lips. Erik tongued at his thumb and sucked it into his mouth. 

“Tastes like marshmallow and baby wipes,” Erik said with a smile, which made Charles cringe and laugh. 

Erik settled his weight so he was directly on top of Charles, stroking his forehead with a hand. “Next time we do this, I want to be somewhere where I can actually see your eyes,” he said gently, his eyes searching Charles’ face. Erik bent down and kissed each of Charles’ eyelids gently. “Your eyes were the first thing I noticed about you. Couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“What?” Charles almost laughed at the thought. “You mean at that party? You were so gorgeous I could barely bring myself to speak to you.”

“You…?” Erik rolled off Charles and laughed. “That’s how I felt about you!”

Erik started kissing Charles’ neck, which was basically Charles’ favorite place to be kissed. Erik moved lower, kissing and tonguing Charles’ nipples, before Charles gleaned the intent behind his actions. 

“Mmmm,” he hummed in negation, pulling Erik up to him. “Not that I don’t appreciate it...but I...I just can’t right now.”

Erik hummed too, kissing Charles on the nipple again. “Why not?”

Charles squirmed. His erection very much wanted it right now, but his mind, unfortunately…”I don’t want you to laugh,” he said. 

Erik smiled against Charles’ collarbone. “I make no promises, but I still want you to tell me.”

Charles ran his fingers through Erik’s hair, making Erik hum contentedly. “I don’t feel completely clean. I mean, I know you’ll eat wieners off of dirty sticks but I just--” Charles shrieked as Erik tickled him in the ribs. 

Erik stopped tickling with a snicker. “Wow, you’re a screamer, aren’t you?”

Charles pulled the sleeping bag up around his torso and glared at Erik. “No. Tickling.”

“I’m sorry,” Erik said, and he did seem genuinely contrite. “Let me make it up to you by sucking your cock.”

Charles discomfort with feeling unclean warred with his desire. “I just...” he sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Erik looked thoughtful. “Do you want to take a shower?”

Charles gave Erik a skeptical look. “Shower? Right now? It has to be after midnight. Are the showers open?”

“I think they’re open twenty-four hours,” Erik replied. “I have quarters for hot water.”

Charles wavered. “Mmm...It’s cold out there...” 

“I want to lick you everywhere.”

“Shower it is!” Charles said brightly, feeling suddenly _much_ more motivated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, very surprised that this little fluff-with-no-plot has gotten the positive feedback it has! And now for the fluffy conclusion. Be sure to brush your teeth; we don't want cavities. ;)

"This is such a production," Charles groaned. 

He was mollified by Erik (sitting behind him on the air mattress with one leg on either side of him) nibbling at the base of his neck. "Worth it. I promise."

Erik had soap, a washcloth, and quarters for the shower tucked in his toiletries bag, which had itself been tucked into the duffle he had brought with him earlier, so there was no need to stop by his tent. As far as shower supplies, Charles had only a towel since he hadn't known there would be showers at all. They both carefully packed a change of clean dry clothes into a plastic garbage bag and put their damp clothes from earlier back on. 

The damp clothes felt disgusting, and Charles shuddered as put them back on. Erik saw his reaction and gave Charles a sympathetic if somewhat amused look. "It's going to make the hot shower feel all the better," he promised. 

Charles snorted. The last thing he put back on were his mud-caked shoes (outside the tent, of course) before he stood up. It was still raining, but not as heavily as earlier. 

"That's probably why I like you so much," Erik said, standing. Charles liked the sound of the statement and smiled at Erik even though he had apparently dropped the thread of the conversation somewhere. 

"Because you are so nice compared to the life I've lived?" Erik prompted, with a tilt to his head and a slight smile. "Like a hot shower after wearing cold wet clothes."

"Ah. But a hot shower is nothing that special, really," Charles said back, arching his eyebrows. "It just feels nice in contrast. So is that what you're actually saying about me?"

"Oh, yeah, exactly. I knew you'd figure it out." 

Charles dropped his jaw in mock outrage. "That's it. No cock for you."

Erik grinned at him, entirely too pleased with himself. "Oh, I bet you'll come around."

"Come around your cock?" Charles asked while at the same time Erik said "Come around my _cock_!" They both laughed for a good twenty seconds before Charles almost slipped in the mud and Erik barely managed to catch him. 

"My hero," Charles said, smiling up at Erik's face. Erik inclined his head to lay an incredibly sweet kiss on Charles' lips. He pulled his head back and they both just smiled at each other for a moment. 

They started walking to the showers carefully, holding hands. Erik was holding the plastic bag that had all their dry clothes in it and Charles was carrying Erik's flashlight to guide their way (his phone battery had died hours ago). 

Charles really didn't know what to expect regarding the showers, so when they reached the building he sighed with relief to see that it was brightly lit with electric lights. "I was wondering how showering by flashlight was supposed to work," he admitted, which made Erik grin and shake his head. 

"There's flush toilets on the other side of the building, too, just FYI," Erik said as they approached the shower side of the building. Charles was grateful that there didn't seem to be any campers too terribly close to the bathroom, but he still kept the volume of his voice down.

As for the flush toilets...how embarrassing, that he did have need of one. He thought though that Erik probably wouldn't be embarrassed - he didn't seem to be embarrassed about things like bodily functions. So Charles determined he wouldn't be either. "I'll be right back then," he said. 

"Okay." Erik was getting undressed for the shower and Charles lingered a few seconds longer than he probably needed to in order to get an eyeful of Erik's naked form before he went to do what he had to. 

When he came back, Erik was just stepping out of the shower with a towel around his waist. He looked magnificent, evocative of a Greek God, but Charles felt a tiny pinch of disappointment; he had been expecting they would shower together. "Oh," Charles said, swallowing his surprise and dismay. 

"Take as many quarters as you like," Erik said, looking through their bag of dry clothes, nodding to a stack of quarters of a ledge, not making eye contact with Charles and not noticing his reaction.

Charles got undressed slowly in the same small room as Erik, but Erik didn't even glance his way. 

Charles stepped into the shower feeling confused, wondering if he had misread something? He had been in the shower for about a minute when Erik said from outside the door, "You feel better now?"

"Not as good as I would if you were in here with me," Charles said without thinking. 

Erik was in the shower so fast, naked and sans towel, that Charles wondered if he had a superpower. "I'm very glad to hear you say that," Erik said with a huge grin. His eyes swept hotly down Charles' body. 

Charles felt his cheeks grow hotter than could be explained by the water temperature. He forced himself to keep a relaxed stance, reminding himself he was in respectable shape, trying not compare his body to Erik's lean, chiseled perfection. 

He soaped himself quickly and efficiently, while letting Erik look his fill. "Getting any ideas?" He asked with a cheeky grin as he turned around to rinse his face off, has back to Erik. 

"Not to make you feel objectified, but you have a fantastic ass," Erik said. Charles turned his head to grin at him over his shoulder and saw that Erik was standing just out of the spray of water and was starting to shiver. 

"Are you trying to stay dry?" Charles said, feeling both puzzled and exasperated. 

Erik shook his head, raising his eyes from gazing at Charles thighs to meet his eye.

"Well, come here, share the water with me," Charles said a little more gently, extending his hand. Erik didn't hesitate to walk closer, looking Charles in the eye. He stood close to Charles but not quite touching until Charles embraced him so that their fronts were flush, half-hard cocks next to each other, Erik's higher than Charles'. 

Charles nuzzled into Erik' neck, feeling the hot water cascading over both of them and having the kind of epiphany that he'd had very few times in his life: the realization that in _that moment_ he was exactly where he wanted to be and nothing was lacking: it was a perfect moment. They were rare indeed, and Charles just sighed for a moment in appreciation. 

Erik's hands stroked his back, still somewhat slick with soap. "Everything ok?" Erik murmured into Charles' wet hair. 

"Everything's perfect," Charles responded easily. "I was just having a moment." He pulled back a little to look at Erik's face because that was part of his moment: this wonderful, incredibly kind person in front of him who, even in the fluorescent lights of the campground bathroom, was unbelievably handsome. 

"A moment?" Erik repeated. Charles could hear his voice reverberating both through his chest and against the tiled walls of the shower enclosure. "That sounds profound."

"It actually is." And then Charles was smiling so hard his face hurt, because he just felt so ridiculously happy. "I like you a lot."

Erik stilled and Charles had a sudden shooting fear that he had crossed some invisible line, because Erik pulled away enough to look at his face intently. Slowly, a huge grin split his face and he just looked at Charles with something akin to wonder. Then the smile was replaced by something much hotter, a smoldering look that took Charles' breath away. "Charles," he started to say, and stopped. He slowly inclined his head enough to kiss Charles then, a much hotter kiss than either of the other two they'd shared thus far. They moaned softly against each other's open mouths, their tongues sliding past each each other and their hands tightened on each other. Erik slid his hands down Charles' back but they stopped at his waist. 

Charles gasped as he felt Erik's cock growing hard against his lower abdomen, desire rippling through him at the feeling. He held Erik against him tightly, moving his hips just enough that he got some soap-slicked friction between his erect penis and Erik's flat pelvis. He whimpered a little, wanting Erik to move his hands lower, to feel his hands on Charles' ass.

Charles was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he didn't notice a small click. They both noticed immediately, however, when the water abruptly turned ice-cold. 

Charles shrieked and Erik winced at the pitch and the volume in the enclosed space. They both backed away from the showerhead in opposite directions. They made eye contact and Erik chuckled ruefully. "I guess I need to put a few more quarters in," he said almost apologetically. 

Charles' teeth were chattering, so he just nodded and gritted his teeth as best he could. Erik disappeared and reappeared with quarters a moment later that he fed into the little box on the wall. 

The water immediately became hot again and Charles melted under the spray gratefully.

Erik smiled at him, almost painfully fond. "How about I quit distracting you and let you shower in peace?"

"You don't want a quick rinse?" Charles offered. He figured Erik was probably still cold from that jolt. 

Erik smiled. "I'm fine," he said, a gentle sound to his voice. "Just hurry so I can start the feast." He flashed Charles a quick, hungry grin and then disappeared. 

'I want to lick you everywhere'...the words echoed in Charles' mind and he shivered in anticipation, cleaning himself very thoroughly...just in case Erik meant it. Charles shut off the water and was about to ask Erik to hand him a towel when a booming voice spoke outside.

"Everything okay in there?"

The voice was masculine and had the unmistakable tinge of authority. "Um, yes?" Charles answered, unsure. Erik's arm thrust a towel into the shower enclosure and Charles touched his arm in a quick wordless thanks because he had been just about to start shivering. 

"I got reports that a woman was screaming in here." The voice was matter-of-fact. Charles heard Erik cough a little and thought he was probably trying not to laugh. Charles wrapped his towel around himself and stepped out of the shower enclosure into the small dressing area, where Erik had hastily wrapped a towel around his own waist as well. 

"I'm afraid that was me," Charles said loud enough to be heard, in his poshest accent. "The water went cold in the middle of my shower."

"Yeah, that would explain it," the man said, with a touch of humor in his voice. "Just try and keep it down to a dull roar, okay? People don't always like when they hear screams in the middle of the night."

"Will do," Charles called, but it sounded like the man was already walking away. Not law enforcement then, or he would have stayed to confirm Charles' statement; probably a park ranger.

Erik was glowering. "This is the problem with showers and flush toilets," he said bitterly. "They are _supervised_."

"Well, I'm happy to deal with the concern of a stranger if the alternative is not showering," Charles said as he started to put on some of his clean dry clothes. 

Erik harrumphed. Charles glanced at him. "You realize that 'not showering' is tantamount to abstinence right now, right?"

"My brain currently does not have blood in it to contemplate hypothetical situations," Erik said, now shamelessly watching Charles get dressed. "All that blood is being used by another organ."

"Is talking about blood part of your typical courtship ritual?" Charles flashed a grin at Erik and checked to see that the organ tucked in his pants _did_ seem to be a little engorged.

Erik smiled back, eyes half-lidded. "Nothing about this is typical for me."

"Ah, so you _are_ straight," Charles teased back, just as he stepped into his (unfortunately still damp and muddy) shoes. 

Erik made an exasperated sound. "I am going to show you exactly how not-straight I am the minute we are back in your tent."

Charles smiled and stepped close to Erik to press a gentle kiss to his lips. "I certainly hope so." He stepped back with a smile, indicating for Erik to grab his bag. 

"I can't decide if you are a cad or a gentleman," Charles said thoughtfully as they walked back to his tent. The rain had blessedly stopped, at least for the time being. "Your words and your actions are somewhat contradictory. You ask permission for a kiss and wait for an invitation to join me in the shower, but nearly everything out of your mouth is a sexual innuendo."

Erik chuckled and took a moment to reply. "Very well then, I contradict myself. I am many; I contain multitudes."

"Quoting Walt Whitman definitely gets you a point in the gentleman column," Charles said softly. 

"Oh, is there a point system?" Charles couldn't really see Erik's face in the dark, but he heard the grin in his voice. "I'd love to hear about the prizes."

"Different prizes for different behaviors," Charles replied lightly. "You may not favor the gentleman prize as much as the cad prize."

“You really think so?”

There was a soft sound to Erik’s voice, still flirtatious, but with a tone that hinted at an unidentified emotion that made Charles’ stomach quiver. 

“It’s probably a matter of mindset,” Charles allowed after a beat. “For instance, at this moment, I am very much looking forward to experiencing the cad.”

He saw just a flash of teeth in the dark. “I’m looking forward to that myself.”

**

Charles hadn’t understood quite how much Erik was looking forward to it until about an hour later when he was on his back naked and bent nearly in half, clutching his ankles, a duffle bag under his hips. Erik hadn’t been exaggerating about licking Charles _everywhere_ , and he had been making a concerted effort to give Charles what was certainly one of the most physically intimate experiences of his life for the past forty-five minutes. Charles had been on the brink of orgasm for what felt like at least ten minutes, with Erik’s hand on his cock and his tongue in his ass. Charles had started out hissing swear words that were mostly intelligible, but his ability to language had degraded since then, and it took significant effort for him to gather his wits enough to say, “Please, dammit, Erik, please fuck me.”

“Can’t,” Erik panted, “No condoms,” before returning his tongue to its duty. 

“I don’t care,” Charles moaned, “Fuck, I want you--” he was about to say _inside me_ but at that moment he came and the only sound that emerged was a low moan, muffled by the elbow he threw across his mouth. 

Erik pulled himself up next to Charles on the mattress, panting heavily. He was covered with a fine sheen of sweat and his lips were slightly swollen, but he had a very self-satisfied look on his face. He planted a kiss on Charles’ shoulder before he lay back heavily with a pleased sigh. “Besides, I want to give you a reason to come back.”

Charles lay in a blissful stupor, nearly asleep, come spilled on his stomach. Something about Erik’s words tugged him away from being completely asleep, though. “What?” He finally mumbled, a slight frown creasing his sweaty brow. When there was no response, he sleepily turned his head towards Erik. “What did you say?”

Erik was surprisingly not asleep. He was on his back with his head turned facing Charles, gazing at Charles with soft, vulnerable eyes, as he gently wiped Charles' stomach off with some article of clothing he'd pulled out of his bag. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, gently, but again something in his tone tugged at Charles and wouldn’t let him drift off to sleep as a part of him so desperately wanted to. 

“Erik.” Charles whispered his name beseechingly, not even sure what he was asking. All he knew is that there was some kind of a fly in Erik’s ointment. “What’s wrong?” Erik just gazed at him, a slight smile on his lips. Charles belatedly realized it had been a few hours since Erik had come. “Do you want me to…?”

Erik shook his head, still smiling. “No, I want you to sleep,” he said softly. “Just - don’t forget me in the morning.” The words were spoken so quietly they were barely audible. 

Charles felt abruptly much more awake. “Forget you? Erik, I’m not going to forget you.”

Erik didn’t say anything, his eyes sweeping away from Charles’ face. Charles took his hand. “Erik.” 

“You seem to like my name,” Erik murmured, still not looking at Charles’ face. 

The tiniest smile curled up the corners of Charles’ mouth. “I do like your name, Erik, and I like you.”

“In here, you do,” Erik said, still not meeting Charles’ gaze. “But in the real world...let’s face it, you can do a lot better than me.”

Charles’ jaw dropped. _”What?_ Erik, please tell me what you are talking about.”

Erik was silent for a moment before his finally lifted his gaze to Charles’ face again. “I own a junkyard, Charles,” he said, the words miserable, as if they were ripped out of him. “I’m little better than a - garbage man. You have a college degree and a promising career ahead of you. I don’t--”

“Stop it,” Charles said sharply. 

Erik swallowed and shut his mouth. 

“Have I done or said _anything_ to make you think I feel you aren’t good enough for me?” Charles hissed, fire in his voice. “How _dare_ you.”

Erik’s eyes flew wide. “Wait, no, I--”

“I just started seeing someone,” Charles continued, “Someone I really like. And I won’t let you speak that way about him.”

Erik’s face fell and he swallowed hard, closing his eyes. “You just started...oh, no. Oh, shit.”

Charles rolled on top of Erik, straddling him, waiting for comprehension.

Erik turned his head to the side, his expression pained, before he abruptly inhaled and looked up at Charles. “You mean...me,” he said. 

Charles smiled and bent down to give the other man a gentle kiss. “I wish I could give you some assurance other than what I feel,” he murmured to Erik’s mouth. “I wish I could tell you that I haven’t ever had a one-night stand. But that would be a lie. And I don’t--” he bent down to kiss Erik’s cheek, “--want to to start this relationship--” he kissed Erik’s forehead, “--with lies.”

Erik swallowed again, looking up at Charles. “You mean that? What I do for a living...you don’t care?”

“Of course I care,” Charles exhaled, settling down so that he was lying directly on Erik, his chin propped up on his elbows, his mouth inches from Erik’s. “I admire your profession, and the traits in you that took you down that path. That’s caring.” He stretched forward enough to press a dry to kiss Erik’s lips. “But also, you are more than what you do for a living.”

Erik kissed Charles back, far more hungrily than Charles had kissed him. Charles felt Erik's cock harden beneath him and groaned good-naturedly into his lover's mouth. “Oh my god. Again? I’m too old for this.”

Erik nosed against Charles’ cheek, his breath hot and insistent. “Old, I’m sure. You’re what, twenty-one?”

Charles gasped in mock outrage. “I’m twenty-five, thank you very much!” 

“Twenty-five? Are you a grandfather yet?” 

Charles growled and Erik laughed delightedly, his hips canting slightly underneath Charles, seeking friction for what by that point was a fully erect cock. 

Charles pulled his head back and narrowed his eyes at Erik. “I just realized why I can see you so well.”

A puzzled look crossed Erik’s face as he glanced around the tent and made the connection that Charles did. He raised his eyebrows. “Is the sun coming up?”

“It’s not the only thing that’s up,” Charles murmured, grinding his hips against the turgidity he felt beneath him. Charles’ own cock was still flaccid and quite spent. “I suppose asking you if you could take care of this yourself would be a little rude?”

A sly grin crept across Erik's face. "Not at all. I'll need to stretch first, though."

Charles moved off of Erik and gave him a puzzled grin. "Stretch? Your cock? I think it's big enough, thank you."

Erik just grinned bigger and sat up, reaching down to grasp his ankles with his legs straight against the air mattress. He flattened his back as much as he could. Charles watched, bemused as Erik turned over onto his stomach and reached behind him for his ankles and pulled, displaying a truly impressive arched back. 

Then Erik lay flat on his back and started stroking his cock. He beckoned Charles to come closer for a kiss and Charles lazily acquiesced, feeling sleepy but very happy. 

"Mmm," Erik hummed into his Charles lips after a few minutes, "I need my mouth now." 

Charles pulled back, feeling both puzzled and intrigued. 

Erik swung his legs up and brushed the roof before he bent his legs enough to avoid that. He put his hands under his own back, propping himself up further. 

Charles suddenly realized what he was doing, or trying to do. "No," he breathed. "Don't tell me you can..."

"I believe I promised you a display of my flexibility earlier tonight, er, last night," Erik said. His voice sounded pinched by the position of his torso. His cock wasn't in his mouth, not yet, but Charles could see that it was very close. If he could squeeze another inch and a half out of his torso, he would be able to get the head inside. 

Erik seemed to realized the same thing, and he moved his hands higher up on his back, which brought his cock head about a centimeter closer to his mouth. Charles saw the solution: Erik needed to bring his knees far enough down that he could put his shoulders over his knees. 

"I think you need--" Charles began when Erik grunted, "This isn't my first rodeo."

Charles laughed abruptly. "I didn't mean to be a backseat cock-sucker, sorry."

Erik grinned at him, his face red and flushed. He seemed to be aiming for exactly what Charles had been going to suggest, bringing his legs even farther over his head, until they smashed against the tent wall. The air mattress moved slightly. 

Charles frowned. "You should probably--" _move down on the air mattress,_ he'd been going to say, but by then it was too late. 

Once the air mattress moved, the whole tent slid, as the pressure of Erik's legs against the tent wall lifted the other end of the tent, the door side, up off the ground. Charles felt a little bit like he was having a very bad dream as Erik overbalanced backwards, off the top of the air mattress, and the tent floor rapidly raised.

"What the fuck," Charles yelled, as clothing and bags started to fall on his face. Erik also yelled something loud and unintelligible once he realized what was happening. Charles pushed himself back on the air mattress, towards the door, trying to counterbalance what Erik had done, but he only managed to keep the air mattress under him as it slid along the wall of the tent, which was definitely rolling downhill. Erik had somehow managed to get almost upright on his feet when he lost his balance and fell towards the air mattress. Face-first on the mattress, his head down where Charles feet were, Erik clutched at the bottom edge and somehow, despite the articles of clothing that rained down on both of them, Charles and Erik managed to stay mostly on top of the air mattress as it slid inside the tent, which had rolled over the wet and muddy ground outside and tumbled into the ditch next next to the stream by which Charles had set up his tent. 

By the time it stopped moving the tent was awkwardly on its side but the air mattress was under both of them. Charles' first fear was that Erik had broken his neck. He turned to see the other man next to him, his feet next to Charles' face. Both men were completely naked and on their stomachs, their heads facing different directions. Erik looked at Charles with a shocked expression before he started laughing. 

It took Charles a few more seconds for the surreality of the situation to hit him before he was laughing, too. "Did we just surf an air mattress inside a rolling tent?" Charles gasped. 

Erik laughed harder, curling towards Charles on his side. "Welp, that killed my boner."

When they had stopped laughing enough from _that_ comment to talk, Charles said, "Are you hurt?"

"Only my pride," Erik responded ruefully. "I really _can_ suck my own dick, you know."

"And I look forward to seeing that," Charles responded with a slightly predatory grin. "Sometime in a less - temporary structure, though, I think."

“Charles?” A male voice called from outside. Charles thought it was Azazel. 

It took a minute to locate the door, as it seemed to be directly under the air mattress and required some coordinated maneuvering to get out. Erik crawled out first, and Charles was right behind him when he heard Erik say, "Hi, Azzy."

Charles decided to scrounge for a pair of pants before coming out. He looked through some of the scattered clothes and the first pair of pants he found were sweats he didn't recognize. He pushed those through the tent opening at Erik, who hadn't moved or spoken, and Erik accepted them silently. 

"Are you okay? Erik? Why are you...wait, where's Charles? Is he okay?" Charles recognized Raven's voice and hastily put on the pair of his own pants he'd found half-sticking out of his bag. 

"I'm fine," Charles yelled, coming out of the nearly upside-down tent finally to stand next to Erik. 

"I'm fine too," Erik said evenly. He was holding the pants in front of himself but had not made a move to put them on, perhaps because he was having a staring contest with Azazel, at the top of the ridge, maybe eight feet higher than the ground next to the creek that Charles' tent had landed on. 

"Charles!" Raven exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to the tension between her boyfriend and Erik. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"It's a very long story," Charles said awkwardly, looking at Erik out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure what Erik planned to say about it, and although he would never out someone without their permission, he felt a pinch of disappointment that he and Erik might not be able to be open about what they were to each other. 

Then Erik turned to Charles. He looked simultaneously terrified and euphoric as he touched Charles' chin (with the hand that wasn’t clutching sweatpants in front of himself) and lifted Charles’ mouth to meet his own in a sweet kiss. 

Charles heard Raven gasp in surprise. 

"Are you sure you're alright?" Erik asked softly right after, resting his forehead against Charles', his eyes so close Charles couldn't focus on them. 

"I really am," he breathed. "And I'm alright with whatever you want to say about this."

Erik smiled slightly. "I think the cat's out of the bag now," he murmured. "No more hiding." 

Charles hugged him tightly before releasing him. 

"I'm going to find an easier way down there," Raven called, disappearing from Charles' sight as she went farther along the creek. 

Azazel was staring at Erik. "How long?" he said. His voice was emotionless.

"Ah..." Erik ran a hand through his hair and finally decided to put his pants on. "Do you really want to have this conversation here?"

Azazel just looked at him. 

"A long time, Az," Erik said finally. He sighed. "A long time."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Azazel still looked stoic, but his voice betrayed a little of his emotion.

Erik spread his hands helplessly. He sighed again before he responded. "Because I was afraid..." he swallowed and looked at Charles for a moment. Charles just gazed back, sympathetic but knowing he wasn't a part of this. "I didn't want to lose you."

"You think so little of me?" Azazel sounded angry and he came right down the slippery wall of the creek to approach Erik. "You think I'm homophobic or something?"

There was no denying that Az was a big guy, and seeing him angry and charging down the slope made it very hard for Charles not to cringe. But Erik seemed to relax as Azazel got closer to him, even when Azazel walked right up to him and stopped facing Erik, less than an armslength away. 

"No," Erik said honestly. "I don’t think that. It's just...we have so little in common already, you know? Ever since you went to college, and I...didn't." 

Azazel was quiet a moment, processing that. "You're my brother," he said after a moment. "I'm gonna love you no matter what. But I'm hurt that you thought you had to lie to me."

Erik's lips tightened. He nodded and looked away from Az. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

A moment passed before Az spoke again, "Aw, shit, c'mere," He said, pulling Erik into a gruff hug. "Now I just feel bad that I cock-blocked you."

Erik choked out a laugh despite himself and both men separated and manfully pretended for a moment that they weren't on the verge of tears. 

"Your cock-blocking wasn’t that successful, if it's any consolation," Charles said after the awkwardness of the moment had started to get to him. “At least, not for very long,” he amended. Erik smiled at Charles and took his hand. 

Raven appeared around the curve of the creek, about fifty feet away. She waved and ran to get closer, slowing and frowning in confusion when she saw that Az was already down the bank. 

Raven’s eyes got big as she saw that Erik and Charles were holding hands. She swatted Azazel on the shoulder. "Ha!" she crowed. "You owe me ten bucks!"

Az shook his head ruefully. “I guess so. Well. I suggest we all have some breakfast and then we can help you guys sort out this whole mess.”

“Why are you two up so early, anyway?” Charles asked Raven. It couldn’t have been 6 o’clock yet.

Raven shrugged. “We went to bed early, remember?”

“Mmm,” Charles said. He didn’t really want to remember that, actually.

“ _We_ didn’t sleep at all,” Erik volunteered, smirking as Charles’ face gradually turned bright red. Raven and Az both laughed at his reaction.

“Give us a minute?” Erik said to Raven and Az as they started to walk where Raven indicated there was an easier place to get back up to their campground. Raven gave him a wave that said _take your time_.

Erik took both of Charles’ hands in his as Charles looked at him inquisitively, his heart speeding up as he wondered what Erik had to say to him. “Despite…” Erik waved a hand in the direction of the tent. “Despite _that_ , last night with you was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.” 

Charles smiled so big it almost hurt his face. “Me too,” he said softly. 

Erik exhaled heavily. “I know we are both really sleep-deprived right now, but I hope that...I hope we both want the same thing.”

“I think we do,” Charles said, with only a bit of hesitation. 

“You said--” Erik looked down. “You said you didn’t want to start a relationship with lies.”

“That’s right,” Charles said, his smile fading. 

“Um. Well. My uh, tent. It’s fine - I didn’t lose the rain cover.”

Charles just looked at Erik in disbelief for a moment before he laughed loudly and pulled Erik close for a kiss. “I think I can forgive you that one,” he murmured into his new lover’s mouth. 

THE END


End file.
